OCCC releases annual crime statistics report online

In 1986, Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old Lehigh University student, was raped and killed in her college dorm room.

Her assailant, who is spending life behind bars without parole, also was a student at the school whom Clery did not know prior to the attack.

In response, Jeanne’s parents Connie and Howard Clery formed a non-profit organization in 1987 dedicated to safe campus communities nationwide, according to http://clerycenter.org.

“In 1990, three years after the organization’s founding, Congress approved the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act. Later renamed in Jeanne’s memory, the Jeanne Clery Act took effect in 1991.”

The Clery Act requires all colleges to keep records of certain types of crimes and make the information available to the public, said OCCC Police Chief James Fitzpatrick. He said a full report, mandated by the Department of Education, is due Oct. 1 of each year.

OCCC just released theirs, notifying all students and OCCC employees via email and making it available online.

Fitzpatrick said the requirements are very specific and cover the time period of the past three calendar years.

“It also requires campuses to put in policy statements, such as what [campus officials will] do in an emergency, how they will notify students on campus of an emergency, how they’ll notify students of a situation that may pose a safety risk to them.”

The first section of the report shows crime statistics, which are given for the following offenses: Aggravated Assault, Arson, Burglary, Forcible Sex Offenses, Motor Vehicle Theft, Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter, Negligent Manslaughter, Non-forcible Sex Offenses and Robbery.

On the OCCC campus, an aggravated assault was reported for each of the reporting years of 2011, 2012, and 2013; three burglaries were reported in 2012; and one forcible sex offense was reported in 2013.

Motor vehicle theft had the largest number of occurences with one in 2011, three in 2012 and two in 2013.

Only one robbery was reported for the year 2012. The total of crime statistics for the past three years on the OCCC campus is 15.

Fitzpatrick said these numbers are normal. He said the report doesn’t contain any surprises.

“I think it reflects well,” he said.

“I think it reflects the common things that you’d expect from a community college without residence housing. We have a couple of auto thefts a year. We had no burglaries. There just wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for our report at all.

“I don’t think we have a big crime problem when it comes to things like theft, but that’s our most significant crime that’s reported to us when you look at volume,” he said.

“Somewhere in the neighborhood of 70, 75 a year is what we average of larcenies here on campus,” he said.

Section two of the Clery Report was recently changed to include crimes involving arson, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

Fitzpatrick said the change is a result of the Violence Against Women Act, which was recently passed.

“They’ve added a whole bunch of information in there about the disciplinary processes, focusing strongly on domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault and dating violence,” he said.

“All these things now are becoming focal points for colleges to get information out to their student body as to who you can bring a complaint to, how you can do that, how you can remain confidential from law enforcement, what process the campus will use in looking into the matter.”

One act of Domestic Violence and one act of Stalking were reported in 2013.

The process for how to handle these crimes also is included in the report, Fitzpatrick said.

“You also have to post in your report what that process is — both for the accused and the accuser — how much time it’s going to take, how they’ll notify both parties of the hearings, who can come to the hearings, can they have somebody come with them, how the results will be delivered to both the accused and the accuser.

“All that has to be in there now — and what the potential consequences are.”

Section three of the Clery report includes Arrest and Referral Data.

OCCC saw a total of six Drug Violations on campus for 2011, 2012, and 2013 combined. Liquor Law Violations were the highest in the category, with three in 2013 alone.